In article conveyors, the use of guides is known to ensure the containment and the proper routing of the transported articles. Such guides are in particular necessary in correspondence of curved sections and bifurcations of the transport line or path, for instance in correspondence of accumulation stations, where a single flow of transported articles needs to be separated into two or more distinct flows, for instance to prepare the articles to the packaging and packing.
Roller guides are very commonly used, in which for the engagement with the transported articles idle rolling elements are foreseen, typically arrays of idle rollers. Another type of guides, that could be defined as “static”, does not have roller elements, and longitudinally elongated bars or tubular elements or profiled members in various materials, for instance in steel or plastics, are provided for the contact with the transported articles. The roller guides are generally preferred to the static guides, since, differently from the latter, they substantially allow a frictionless contact with the transported articles, and this avoids possible decelerations, possible jams or falls of the transported articles or superficial damages (for instance, small abrasions).
Typically, the guides are mounted, by means of clamps, to respective support bars, that extend vertically and are in turn attached to the frame of the conveyor. A problem that affects the guides for conveyors of articles is represented by the twisting that they may suffer in consequence of the side stresses, transversal to the direction along which the transport path extends, that in use are exerted onto them by the transported articles. Such stresses can cause an undesired side bending, that prevent the proper working of the conveyor. It is therefore important to guarantee a suitable rigidity of the guides, particularly to withstand the transversal stresses without getting deformed.
Additionally, the operations of mounting the guides to the frame of the conveyor on which they are to be installed should be as simple as possible without requiring the use of special tools.